Living in a Better World
by treesofsilverleaves
Summary: "Don't make me go back," Lucy said. "They'll kill me if I do." She wasn't sure how she survived in the first place, with scratches everywhere except where the biggest ones should have been. Two co-linear dots on her forehead. Scars from the lasers that should have killed her. Scars that were, inexplicably, not there.
1. Prologue

**Living in a Better World**

**Prologue**

"**It would be nice to feel that we are a better world, a world of more compassion and a world of more humanity, and to believe in the basic goodness of man."**

**-Barbara Walters**

"_**Is this your better world?"**_

Keep running, keep running, please, just keep running.

_Lucy was panting hard, her legs on fire, as she sprinted for her life. She begged herself to keep going, outrun the enemy. If only she could just reach the safe house. It was no use though. There were so many of them, and she was running low on energy. Her flight had run out some time ago. They were gaining on her._

What does it matter? My only reason for living is long gone. I can't run anymore.

_She knew her only chance was to revert to her true form, but she didn't have enough energy. Besides, somehow, it didn't seem worth it. Life didn't seem worth living anymore. The running, the pain, was catching up to her._

_So she stopped._

_She stopped, and turned around. A few observers discretely took out cameras, taking in her haggard form. She was dirty, scratched up, covered in blood. Her eyes were shining with tears, and she took a ragged breath._

"_Is this what you wanted?" she shouted, her voice hoarse. It gained strength with her next cry. "Superman, Batman, all you so-called _Justice_ Lords? Is this what you wanted? Blood and tears and oppression? Is this what you have to be proud of? A goddamn dictatorship? Forgive us lesser beings for having thoughts and feelings, for rebelling against your precious peace. Is this really what you wanted? Is this your_ better world?_"_

_Her tired mind registered the crowd in front of her roaring with cheers. Then she only had a moment to feel the pain in her forehead before she collapsed. She saw Superman fly down and stand before her, eyes red and contemptuous, and then she saw darkness. Pain consumed her, and then she felt no more._

**A/N**

**Woo! Prologue = done! This was just an idea that I had at a sleepover at my cousin's house once upon a time. I hadn't really planned on continuing, but Lucy was my first superhero character – meaning that she's both my first character in the world of superhero media and also that she's my first character that **_**is**_** a superhero – so I thought she deserved her own fully-fledged fic. **

**Yes, this is the Lucy from the oneshot, **_**Is This A Better World?, **_**and it's alternate ending version, but she is also different. This is the original Lucy: an alien from a distant planet that took a human form and name to live on Earth. The Lucy in **_**ITABW?**_** is completely human. **

**Er, also, sorry about the Author's Note, I usually don't do these and it's kind of weird for me.**


	2. Chapter 1 - Nightmare

**Living in a Better World**

**Chapter 1 – Nightmare**

"**We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon."**

**-Franklin D. Roosevelt**

An unknown amount of time had passed. It could have been seconds, it could have been years. It could have been a lifetime. All she knew was thatit was still dark and she didn't have the strength to open her eyes.

There were voices. They were eerily familiar, dangerously familiar, but she could not quite place them. Two men with deep, serious voices, which made her want to cry and shout angrily at the same time. She didn't know why.

"Who is she?" asked the first voice, the first intelligible thing she'd heard from the two, sounding nearer.

"She's not in any of our records," came the second voice. She began to register things around her, like the constant whirring of machinery and softness under her head. A pillow.

"So…?" Wires and tubes were attached to her shoulder. They were piercing her skin with needles and stuck with tape. _Evelyn hated needles_, she remembered with a pang of sadness. Where was she?

"We have the most complete records in the world. According to our tests, she's human, but there doesn't seem to be a reason for the blue coloration on her hands and there was no DNA match in the system."

There was a pause. She was embarrassed to realize she wasn't wearing anything but a thin hospital gown. What were the voices talking about?

"She shouldn't exist."

She felt sleepy, so sleepy. Awareness left her quickly.

The next time she woke up, she felt a little bit stronger. The voices were still there. They stopped talking the moment she inhaled deeply. Her eyes twitched behind her lids.

"She's waking up!"

"Stay alert. She could be dangerous."

"Most likely she'll be too weak to stand, let alone do either of us any harm."

She could practically feel the glare, but whether it was directed at her or at the voice that had last spoken, she did not know. All the same, it made the weak sensation well up inside of her, and she arched her back and breathed in further, desperately trying to stay awake. Quickly, though, she collapsed back into herself and stilled, her breathing stuttering back to the same peaceful pattern of deep sleep.

But not for long.

Blood pulsed in her veins, heart beating out a steady rhythm. _Run, run, run._ She didn't know where she was, why she was running, just that she had to continue. _Forever running._

An image appeared next to her, in the darkness. A vision? A memory? It was a man in a red costume, with funny lightning bolts attached where his ears would be. He was smiling, smiling, smiling, and she wanted to turn, to run to _him_, but _who was he_, and she couldn't make herself move. Another image, on her other side, the same man, laughing, laughing, and she was leaving the man behind, and it hurt, it actually _hurt_.

She was burning from the inside out, something was tearing at her chest. In the distance, the smiling, laughing man was no longer smiling or laughing, he was weak, tired, and slumped, held up by another man with a wicked smirk. She was a raging inferno, pushing herself faster, faster, to catch the two, but the smirking man had a gun and it was too late, too late.

The red man, the smiling man, the laughing man, he was dead, and all of a sudden she was weary, bone-tired, unable to keep running. She slowed, stopped. And then she fell. She fell and fell and fell.

And, finally, woke.

**A/N**

**Can anyone guess who the red man is? ;)**

**I have a feeling these chapters are going to be short. Sorry 'bout that.**


	3. Chapter 2 - Waking

**Living in a Better World**

**Chapter 2 – Waking**

"**There is no refuge from memory and remorse in this world. The spirits of our foolish deeds haunt us, with or without repentance."**

**-Gilbert Parker**

Lucy shot up, gasping for breath, tears streaming down her face. The nightmare lingered, in the shadows, behind her eyes. Wherever she was, it was bright, and white, and altogether too much for her fatigued mind. She ripped the needles out of her skin, kicked off the sheets, and fell over the side of the bed. Her head hurt, and the sudden movement sent her hiccoughing.

There was a surprised shout, not too close but definitely near enough to be caused by her actions, and she desperately tried to crawl away. But Lucy's arms were like lead, and the floor was cold. Large, strong hands picked up her thrashing body and set her down on the hospital bed. "Stop!" a deep, intimidating voice commanded, a familiar voice. _Batman._

It was useless to struggle, but she did. She kicked and wriggled and punched and screamed. However, Superman had been the one to deposit her on the bed, and he had no trouble keeping her still long enough for Batman to put restraints on her arms and legs. Slowly but surely, the fight went out of her, so she lay there, panting, and finally opened her eyes.

Batman and Superman stood at her bedside, glaring down at her. But they were different from when she had last seen them . . . whenever that was. They were still wearing their old costumes, from before the assassination of Lex Luthor, from before the dictatorship.

"Why haven't you killed me yet?" she asked, surprising even herself as the words slipped out of her mouth. Her voice was hoarse and bitter, mouth dry.

Batman's expression didn't waver, but Superman looked shocked. "We don't kill," he replied sternly. "We don't even know who you are."

"You've hated me for two years," Lucy told him harshly, feeling no small amount of confusion, "and you've known me for longer."

Superman shook his head. "I've never seen you before."

"I—" she cut herself off with a cough. One of her arms was freed, and a glass of water handed to her. Lucy eyed it suspiciously.

"It's not poisoned," Superman said pointedly. Lucy cast a distrustful look at Batman and cautiously took a sip. Once she was sure it was just water, she gulped it down greedily.

"My name is—" she began, then once again stopped short, this time without the coughing. "I'm Galaxy," she said finally.

"Do you know how you got here?" Batman questioned.

She shook her head. "The last thing I remember is . . . well," she began, flinching with fear for what she was about to bring up. Deep down, Lucy was still afraid that this was all some kind of trick and that they would get angry and kill her while she was lying in the hospital bed at her most vulnerable. "I remember yelling at you, and then the pain. A lot of pain."

Superman and Batman exchanged looks that she couldn't read. "I'm sorry, but that couldn't have happened. You just appeared in the Watchtower a few weeks ago, all torn up and unconscious."

"I-I don't understand."

"Get J'onn," Batman ordered. Superman nodded and left, while Lucy relaxed slightly. Batman had always been scary as hell, yes, but Superman was the more bloodthirsty Justice Lord, more impulsive and even the most cruel, and he terrified her. After a pause, in which Batman studied her and she nervously twisted her fingers, he asked, "Who are you?"

"Galaxy," she answered immediately.

"I'm going to ask again. Do not think about trying to lie to me," he said darkly. She shivered at his threatening tone. "Who. Are. You."

"Lucy Smith," she replied in a small voice. "But if what I think might have happened is true . . . I don't exist."

Batman glared at her, in a way that only he could from beneath the cowl that covered half his face, including his eyes. Lucy hurried to explain herself. "I-I'm not entirely sure what happened, but there's got to be some explanation for how you don't know me when you should want me dead, and why you're wearing these costumes when I know for a fact you haven't touched them in two years. I-I think that, somehow, I was transported here from a different dimension."

**A/N**

**I'm not entirely happy with this chapter . . . but I don't know how to rewrite it. Also, too lazy. :P**

**Also, to my reviewers: yes, I know that it's short. Each chapter is probably going to **_**be**_** short. But after the introductory period I'll be getting into episodes of the show, which, as you might know, there are quite a few of. **

**I need to say, though, that this fic is kinda more for my own benefit. It's not my best writing but it was something I felt I had to write and really **_**wanted **_**to write. So I apologize for its general lack of flow.**

**Thank you so much for your reviews, and keep 'em coming!**


	4. Chapter 3 - The Mind

**Living in a Better World**

**Chapter 3 – The Mind**

"**Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad."**

**-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow**

It was then that Superman returned, followed by a green man with a blue cape. Lucy recognized him immediately as Martian Manhunter.

Lucy shrank into herself. "No! No, not him, I'll tell you what you want to know!" she said. The three men looked surprised.

"What's wrong?" Superman asked, somewhat concerned for the strange girl. She looked terrified, possibly even more terrified than when she looked at him.

"He's Martian!"

Superman narrowed his eyes at her. "Something against aliens?"

Lucy shook her head frantically, tugging at her bound limbs. "He can't be inside my mind!"

"Calm down," J'onn told her, reaching out to her. Lucy clenched her fists, which started to glow, and then shoot out bolts of energy.

The men's eyes widened, before they sprang into action. Batman and Superman leapt for her unrestrained arm while J'onn struggled to get in contact with her. He could have gotten into her mind without it, but considering how frantic she was the physical contact could help his telepathy. His hands slipped into place at her temples and Lucy stilled, eyes slipping closed. Batman restrained her other arm and retrieved a power inhibitor, which he snapped around her neck like a collar.

J'onn pulled up a chair and sat down, taking a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to do. His eyes began to glow, and he slipped into her mind with a practiced ease. Batman and Superman exchanged glances, and waited.

Lucy found herself standing in complete darkness. She tensed, remembering her dream. _Calm down, _spoke a voice, familiar and deep. Again, it was Martian Manhunter. Lucy tensed further.

_Why are you afraid? _the voice asked.

"Nothing against you personally," Lucy replied, spinning around and trying to find the source of the voice. "Even if, in my dimension, you're a horrible monster. But it really has more to do with the fact that my kind don't usually get on with Martians."

_But you are human._

"If you think that, then you haven't seen my memories yet."

_Your DNA shows up as… _There was a pause.

"Human? Like yours does when you shape-shift into a human form?" she asked sarcastically.

_Then what are you?_

"Get out of my head and maybe I'll tell you."

_I am sorry, but I cannot do that. It is too likely that you will have another negative reaction to my presence._

Lucy snorted. "Yeah, sure. Get it over with, then, alright?"

There was another pause, and then an image appeared to her left. In the image, there was a planet, all purple and white, orbiting a bright yellow sun just like the on orbited by Earth. It was Tenendewyr, her home planet. To her right, another image appeared, a mass of glowing, humanoid beings of either blue or red skin. _You are a Seralnn Isla, _the voice spoke, surprised.

"Yes. And now you understand why I did not appreciate your arrival and why I abhor your presence in my mind."

The Martians and the Seralnn Islay had never been on very good terms. Their shape-shifting abilities were very similar, especially in that they took place on a cellular level, so that when they changed it was a complete change, but it took much more energy for the Seralnn Islay to perform the shift. The Seralnn Islay also lacked the telepathic and telekinetic abilities of the Martians. They feared and resented the Martians' ability to pry into their minds without permission.

To their credit, the Seralnn Islay were not quite wrong. Many a corrupt Martian had used their telepathy to steal and sell their secrets. Thankfully, since Mars and Tenendewyr were solar systems away from each other, this had not happened very often, but enough for the governments of Tenendewyr to be wary of Martian visitors.

_I understand._

"So you'll get out of my head?"

_Yes. There is no way to tell how you came to be here from your memories. I am sorry for the invasion of your privacy . . . Ralnnestyr._

**A/N**

**Aaand here's a little bit of Lucy's origin! Her real name is Ralnnestyr, which means Light Daughter in her native language. Her home planet is Tenendewyr, which means Planet of Dawn. The race that lives on Tenendewyr is the Seralnn Islay, which means Star People (though the literal translation of Seralnn is Sky-Light).**

**Not quite happy with this chapter either considering that in the beginning Lucy was all scared of J'onn and then once he was inside her head she suddenly turned into a sassy-pants.**


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